


Flicker

by sapphire_child



Series: Charlie/Claire 50 Darkfics (Livejournal) [9]
Category: Lost
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Community: 50_darkfics, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-22
Updated: 2007-01-22
Packaged: 2019-01-15 05:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12314364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire_child/pseuds/sapphire_child
Summary: When the final candle goes out, she thinks, his life will end.





	Flicker

**Author's Note:**

> I claimed Charlie and Claire over on [](https://50-darkfics.livejournal.com/profile)[**50_darkfics**](https://50-darkfics.livejournal.com/)  
>  **Prompt:** 43\. Candle  
> 

The candles are clumsy, handmade, but they still offer a little light in this plunging darkness. There are murmurs outside the walls enclosing the two of them but he can’t hear them and she is simply ignoring them.

When the final candle goes out, she thinks, his life will end.

It’s far too poetic really, he should have been killed instantly. But someone is allowing him a last chance to say goodbye, like he’s always wanted. She’s not sure whether _she_ wanted this last goodbye. But want or not, its here.

As she strokes his hair, another candle extinguishes itself. There’s only one left now – flickering dully in time with his pulse. The sky is beginning to lighten outside and the shadows are slowly disappearing. Maybe he’ll still be here when the sun rises?

She begins to hum mindlessly, her mind still on that final candle.

_I’ll be your candle on the water  
My love for you will always burn…_

‘Have you given up on me yet?’ he whispers, trying to laugh and instead falling into a breathless coughing fit.

‘Not until the last candle goes out.’ her voice is soft.

‘You spent so much time making them,’ he says, his voice melancholy. ‘Sometimes I thought you were scared of the dark.’

‘I was.’ The two of them stare at each other for a long, affirmative moment. ‘And I still am.’

Charlie manages a smile then, crooked and tired but it’s still a smile. ‘You can’t chase all the shadows away love. Even the tallest candles burn out one day.’

‘I know.’ And for the first time, tears begin to run down Claire’s nose. ‘Nothing’s bloody everlasting.’

Charlie sighs, his chest hitches with a particularly painful breath and then he lies still for a long moment. For the longest moment she doesn’t dare to believe – but then a pale and trembling hand reaches out to touch his still chest and she knows that he’s gone.

But the final candle still burns, a sputtering, weak flame. Claire frowns at it but next moment, it sparks suddenly before spiralling away into a curling ribbon of grey smoke. And as the sunlight streams suddenly through the open doorway, the colour all seems to fade from the world.


End file.
